I interrupted my previous post to see if the Bourdain video was on Youtube so when I found it I shared it to my blogger. Anyone can sit through it to understand my thoughts about this.
First, I was truly saddened by the plight of the industrial region which had been built by the Belgians but left to decay and negligence. None of the Africans had been trained or instructed on how to use the buildings which included the library. Those buildings are just empty now but the library is being kept clean and in some kind of repair Watch the video to see the situation which is at the end of the journey and end of the film. But it is sad and pathetic to realize how the white man who created this left it to die its slow death. None of the Belgian people who operated this industry truly cared about the land which their king had mercilessly claimed as his own.
When I say the land, I mean the entire population, animals, environment, everything...They mercilessly used it for their own profit to finally relinquish it so that it now stands as a reminder of the cruelty and wretchedness that these Belgian entrepreneurs heaped upon a continent that they could not bring under control.
The cruelty is the fact that today these inhabitants have no real concept of anything that was being done and certainly have no means to utilize it for their own needs and purposes. Where is the Peace Corps I am wondering?
At any rate, both Africans and Europeans alike are to be held accountable for the state of its existence today. Africa is still being exploited by the very rich who mine the diamond fields for their own profit and gain.
Most of inner Africa remains undeveloped, and arguments have long persisted whether mankind should impose its lifestyle upon people who have lived a lifestyle in relative peace and quiet without the interference of outside forces. It appears that Europeans tried to make claims to rule Africa as they did the American nations in both North, Central, and South America. However, none of the nations who wanted to rule Africa appear to have been successful except perhaps Britain in South Africa where it did take root.
Supposedly, Qadafi was cut down because he wanted to initiate and impose a banking system upon Africa which would threaten European and American interests. Whether that is true or not is a matter of opinion, but nonetheless, he is no longer alive to persist in making his banking system work in all of Africa.
Egypt, Libya, and many other African nations are kept in constant turmoil probably due to outside agitators as well as internal problems. In no way will this kind of internal fighting benefit this continent of many nations.
Were I to impose a rule there, I would not only put in generators for electric power, but I would build hospitals, schools, housing developments, and naturally, a highway system to unite the entire continent into one whole United Africa.
There is a group coming to Arizona this week to help develop and bankroll entrepreneurs which is based upon ABC's Shark Tank Show. I would suggest that these sharks begin to look to Africa, send business leaders as well as science and industry leaders to help to develop the nations of Africa. There is real value in the future of Africa as a whole, and nobody who is young, thoughtful, ambitious, and philanthropic can deny it. However, the Sharks are people who only want to make money. Money and profit may be an end goal in Africa as well, but a better purpose would be to help bring about change and improvement in a continent that can use as much help as it can get.
Unfortunately, for Africa and the world, the only things of value that seems to interest the profiteers is the tusks of animals, the skins of animals, and thus, Africa has been suffering the loss of much native wildlife. I am certain that there are many valuable assets in Africa that can be turned into a profit making means for survival other than the poaching of wild beasts.
Do tour with Anthony Bourdain. Do get a sense of how it is that mankind can help this continent to become a powerful and attractive habitat for mankind as well as the wildlife which dwells there.
The challenge is to keep the natural beauty, the pure environment without turning it into the industrialized, over cemented and over apartmentalized American and European world. Again, the goal is to teach people how to survive by doing it themselves. But first in order to do that, teachers, leaders, nurses, doctors, and engineers will be needed to lead the way.
Africa needs help. We should listen to their pleas, and help them.
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